1 year after the activists’ detention, we trust this is the best day to expose persecutions, injustices and to reclaim our right to freedom of expression, association and assembly as stated in our constitution

The case of the 17 activists generated great attention from a significant number of Angolans and the international community, but these and other activists are still detained or facing constraints to their freedom. Because we need everyone that wants to contribute for one better Angola to be free to do it, because to do a peaceful demonstration does not lead do war, because there isn’t peace without justice and equality, because we believe that together we can turn this page in the history of our country, we call upon each of you, in Angola and in the diaspora, in your language, in your city and in your own way, to join us.

20th June, because we are all hostages of the atrocities being committed by this government, we will demonstrate our solidarity with the political prisoners and reclaim our Liberation, as it was promised 40 years ago! How?

Share the event image

Wear a white piece of clothing

Post your opinion about the political imprisonments on social media. With texts or images.

Organize one or participate in one of the following demonstrations:

18 JuneBrussels – Parc du Cinquantenaire, Fête de La Musique, 11PM

19 JuneLobito – In the roundabout in “zona alta da lixeira” – 6PMLuanda – Football match in the football field of church São Domingos – 3PM

The process of the 15+2 carried on today with a troubled beginning due to the rain that hit the city of Luanda, delaying the start of today´s session with the late arrival of defense attorney Walter Tondela. Impatiently the judge Januário Domingo used it as a justification to attribute a public defender by the name of Albano Guerra to the defendant José Gomes Hata. Hata´s questioning started on Monday. The session initiated as usual at 10h50 am.

Today´s session opened with the questioning of the defendant by the Public Ministry, who immediately made his statement: “Honorable representative of the Public Ministry, yesterday I was clear in saying that I will not answer any of your questions; Dear judge, I have no faith in the public defender, I don´t know him, and in the absence of my own attorney I will maintain myself in silence throughout this session.” It didn´t take long for Walter Tondela, the defense attorney, to walk into the court room.

The Public Ministry exhibited video number 4, in which the voices of the co-defendants Mbanza Hamza and Luaty Beirão supposedly are heard, with images of the backs of some of the participants in the debate. After the video further questioning of Hata took place and later on it was the turn of the defendant Sedrick de Carvalho.

Sedrick mostly answered the mandatory questions about his identity and after that he frankly told the judge: “Your Honor, I will only answer the questions related to facts sanctioned by the criminal code”. Confidently Sedrick cited some of the articles embodied in the criminal code. Later on there was a recess and during the resumption of the session judge Januário Domingos and his assistant Agostinho carried on questioning Sedrick.

For the most part the questions made by the judge were of the kind: “Why have you spoken about ethics referring to some of the people who organized a protest and didn´t show up at the meeting spot?” Sedrick limited himself by answering: “I don’t see any relevance in this question, so I have nothing to declare.”

At last the judge stated that because of the noticeable absences of some of the co-defendants already questioned, such as: Domingos da Cruz, Nito Alves and Nuno Dala, allegedly for health reasons, the court had decided that, from now on only the co-defendants that are scheduled to be heard will be present in the court room. All the other defendants shall remain in their cells.

The defendant Mbanza Hamza asked the attorney to make his concern clear, being: “In case of any of the co-defendants wishing to watch a session could there be an exception to this decision?”

To which the judge answered: “We were quite clear about our decision, no.”

The Judge closed the session indicating that the hearing of Sedrick would continue on the next day, communicating that Fernando António Tomás “Nicola o Radical” will be the next one to be heard.

An article (for subscribers only) by Louise Redvers sheds light on the permanent violence exerted upon peaceful protesters by the savage police forces under the command of the regime.

Peace abroad, but not necessarily at home

Another heavy-handed shutdown of an attempted anti-government protest has stirred anger in Angola, where people are becoming increasingly concerned about the government’s apparently growing intolerance to criticism. The ruling MPLA accuses its detractors of trying to subvert democracy, but opposition parties claim this obsession with maintaining the peace is only serving to stir up more political intolerance.

Angola is working overtime to promote itself abroad as a vibrant economic success story and a beacon of regional stability. In October it won a seat on the UN Security Council, and in January it will take over the presidency of the Kimberly Process, the international body set up to counter the trade in so-called blood diamonds. Meanwhile, local venture funds regularly appear in the international media proclaiming the country’s tantalising investment opportunities. However, although the government pours money into polishing up its external image, domestic tensions are rising. People are increasingly unhappy with how the authorities are reacting to the actions of youth groups and opposition parties that are critical of the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) and the president of 35 years, José Eduardo dos Santos.

Events in Burkina Faso, where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets and forced the removal of the long-serving president, Blaise Compaoré, prompted a handful of political activists to give media interviews warning that Mr dos Santos could meet a similar fate. In response, a number of leading MPLA figures spoke out, calling on people to keep the peace and maintain order. More controversially, the main opposition party, the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA), was accused of inciting violence through public protest, and in mid-November the state-owned Jornal de Angola ran a front-page story in which the interior minister, Ângelo de Barros Veiga Tavares, warned of “veiled efforts” to overthrow the democratic regime. Mr Veiga Tavares also called on the security services to “intensify their surveillance” and ensure law and order were maintained.

This is not the first time the government has adopted a highly defensive tone against its critics, and nor was the heavy-handed shutdown of youth protests in late November the first of its kind. However, the cumulative effect of the threatening language and growing catalogue of allegations of police cruelty is to provoke new tensions that could, if left unchecked, lead to more sustained social unrest.

Security services on trial?
Another headache for the government is the resumption in November of the criminal trial of seven security agents accused of killing two activists who went missing after an anti-government protest in May 2012. For 17 months the authorities denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of Isaias Cassule and António Alves Kamulingue, but in November 2013, following sustained civil society pressure, the attorney-general finally admitted the pair had been kidnapped and probably murdered.

Local media have devoted substantial space to pouring over the details of the case, including claims from within the State Intelligence and Security Service that one of activists had been recorded meeting with a supposed agent from the US’s Central Intelligence Agency, who it later transpired was a Human Rights Watch researcher of Swiss nationality. The trial is a major embarrassment for Angola’s security services and for the country generally and it jars with the glossy promotional videos shown at “invest in Angola” roadshows.

November was also the first anniversary of the death in custody of Manuel Ganga, a member of the country’s third-largest party, the Convergência Ampla de Salvação de Angola-Coligação Eleitoral (CASA-CE). Mr Ganga was detained by presidential guards after distributing posters advertising a protest march reacting to the admission from the attorney-general that Mr Cassule and Mr Kamulingue were dead. Mr Ganga was, it was reported, shot, because he tried to escape detention.

To mark Mr Ganga’s death—for which no-one has yet been charged—CASA-CE and his family members led a procession through the capital, Luanda, on November 22nd. This passed off peacefully, but later that day riot police detained a group of youths who tried to stage a protest calling for the resignation of Mr dos Santos. Officers locked down part of the city centre to prevent their passage and there are claims—apparently backed by photographs on social media—that some young people were beaten while in detention.

This seemingly disproportionate response to a small group of placard-carrying young people reveals a nervousness, even a paranoia, on the part of the authorities. No-one, not least the young people themselves, expects these demonstrations to start an Egypt-style revolution; rather, their protests have become about the principle of exercising their constitutional right to freedom of expression and assembly.

For several months, different members of the loose group calling itself the Movimento Revolucionário Angolano have been staging “pop-up” protests to test the reactions of the authorities, who have on the whole taken the bait and made arrests. Every detention is more grist to the mill for lobby groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, both of whom have in recent months issued damning appraisals of the Angolan government.

The MPLA’s hegemonic grip on Angola’s economy, middle classes, cultural sector and religious movements means that any sort of Burkina Faso-style “African Spring” is highly unlikely. However, anger is fermenting, and with the continuing falling oil price likely to lead to cuts in public spending over the coming year, the government is going to have to work twice as hard to win the confidence of its population. Being so prickly about criticism is not the best way to do so.

– On the 22nd and 23rd of November 2014 peaceful protests for political reform in Angola will be held by young activists.
– The protests will take place at the Independence Square, and at the surroundings of the constitutional court and, tentatively, the presidential palace.
– A letter is subscribed by new groups with integration of already renowned conglomerates like the Revolutionary Movement of Angola MRA.

Translation of Letter to Provincial Government

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF ACTIVISTS FROM ANGOLA
To the Provincial Government of Luanda – Cabinet of the Governor – Luanda

Topic: Communication of the realization of a protest on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2014.

Excellency, we are members of the civil society (civil activists), our activities pertain to what we think is a contribution to the construction of a democratic society. We are leaving you this letter, to communicate to government authorities, under article 47º of the constitution of the Republic of Angola, that we will carry out a peaceful protest on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2014. The aforesaid protest will have its assembly point at Independence Square at 15h, with the start at 22h in front of the constitutional court. At 23h we are going to be protesting in front of the presidential palace under the slogan ´political reform in Angola´.

Thereby demanding before Africa and the world the immediate resignation of José Eduardo dos Santos from the position of president of the republic.

It will be featuring members of the Revolutionary Movement.

Protest Movement of Angola
Revolution Movement of Angola
Angolan Reformer Movement
Activists Union of the 18 provinces and the people in general

Without further points of concern we wish you a good health

Luanda, 10 October 2014.
National Council of Activists from Angola – Different Peoples One Nation … To Liberty
The subscribers